Stationary devotees will love their paper notebook will also love the Moleskine Power Bank because it looks just like a small classic Moleskine journal from the rounded corners to the iconic elastic band. Cute and functional.
The Moleskine Power Bank features 4 LEDs that indicate charging status but information on the capacity of this power bank is not known at this time.
The Moleskine Power Bank will be available in black or red and is priced at $39.95. You can find out more at moleskine.com and you can order one from Amazon.
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Just when you thought vinyl technologies were played out, Pink Donut brings us this fascinating little gizmo. The RokBlok is a self-contained record player that spins around the surface of the record, no turntable required!
The unit is completely self-contained and wireless; you can play the music through the onboard speaker, or connect to your headphones (or full-size stacks) via Bluetooth. At a total weight of 3.2 ounces with vinyl wheels, it won’t harm your records. It will also play singles, EPs, or LPs at 33-1/3 or 45 RPMs.
It looks like this started as a Kickstarter, and is now available on preorder for Fall delivery at a retail price of $89.00. Check it out at RokBlok.co.
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The quest continues! For my perfect set of wireless earbuds, that is. Well, for me, anyway. I’ve tried out multiple products, but none has been the “perfect” one yet. Would the Smartomi ACE Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds be “the” ones? With their small size and charging storage case, they looked sleek and all, but would they survive the rigors of my workouts and work out for everyday use? Something told me that the answer might be a yes. Let’s see how they did. Gadget on!
Specs
Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.7 x 1.6 inches
Weight: 4 ounces including charging case (each earbud is o.2 ounces)
Chip: AB1526
Charging time: about 2 hours
Play/talk time: 2.5 – 3 hours
Standby time: about 150 hours
Battery capacity per earphone: 55 mAH
Battery capacity of charting case: 500 mAH
Working range: about 33 feet (1o m)
Driver unit: 6mm speaker
Bluetooth: v4.2
Warranty: 60 days no reason return, 18 months warranty
Packaging
The Smartomi ACE earbuds arrived in some quite nice packaging, a simple black box with the Smartomi logo on top and some minimal info on the bottom.
Contents
1 pair of SmartOmi ACE True Wireless Earbuds
3 pairs of earbuds Tips (in sizes Small, Medium, and Large)
1 portable charging case with 500mAh battery
1 micro USB cable for charging the case
1 user manual
Features, Functions, and Performance
Above are the Smartomi ACE earbuds, along with the three pairs of included eartips in sizes large, medium and small. Since I have cavernous ear canals, I went straight for the size large. They were easy to install, just push them onto earbud’s posts with a bit of a twist. Above is the Smartomi ACE’s battery case. It has a hinged, transparent plastic lid that allows the user to see inside, which is useful because the earbuds light up to indicate charging (more on this below). There are also two “pockets,” one for each of the earbuds, and each pocket has four tiny brass terminals that charge the earbuds. Either side of the pockets have a groove that makes it a bit easier to grab the earbuds and pull them out. A tiny blue LED between the earbud pockets indicates charging. Additionally, the case has a very Apple-esque design, with a matte aluminum around the bottom half that looks quite a bit like the iPhone’s finish. One surprisingly cool and useful feature of this case is a set of hidden magnets that interact with magnets in the earbuds themselves. When the earbuds are placed near the charging “pockets,” the magnets attract together and SNAP! the earbuds lock right into position on the charging terminals, perfectly, every time. The case holds the earbuds so securely that you can actually turn the case upside down and the earbuds stay put. I really like this feature. I didn’t have to eyeball and manually position the earbuds into their charging pockets as I did with previous earbud charging cases, which sometimes meant that they were not perfectly seated on the charging terminals, thus preventing them from charging. No bueno. This case eliminates that. Also, the earbuds seldom need to be manually powered off. When you are finished with them, just place them in the case and they power off automatically. When you remove them from the case to use them, they power back on and re-pair automatically. Very cool. Above, I have the included mini-USB plugged into the rear of the case. This setup charges both the battery in the case as well as the earbuds themselves simultaneously. The case gives the earbuds a significantly longer usage time. I was able to easily use the earbuds for well past a full week of 6 or 7 workouts lasting 1-1.5 hours due to the additional boost provided by the battery in the charging case.
Above, the tiny blue LED glows while the case is in charging mode. Above, a closeup of the inside of the earbuds in which you can see the four charging contact points on each earbud. This is probably a good point to mention that pairing the Smartomi ACE with my iPhone was simple the first time and they remained paired every time I used them, which was not the case with other wireless earbuds I’ve tried. Pleasant-sounding voice prompts are used to indicate various functions, such as when the earbuds are powered on, when they are paired and so forth. Above, a closeup of the earbuds from the outside. Each earbud has a tiny microphone hole that can be used to make phone calls. A single push button on each earbud that controls various functions, like music pause and phone call answer. In addition, the chrome-colored rings that encircle these buttons are actually LEDs that glow during charging. The Smartomi ACE earbuds are quite small, but more than that, they have an ergonomic, smooth shape, which I think helps them fit a bit better in my ears, and remain comfortable for a long time. How do they sounds? Excellent. As long as you have the proper size of silicone ear tips for your ear and you have them securely seated in your ear canal, they produce some sharp highs and solid base. For listening to podcasts, they were good, but listening to music or movies was where they really shined.
As seen in the image above, these earbuds barely stick out of my ears at all—they really fit right down in my outer ear. I like that, because it means that they are much less likely to get caught on something and get knocked out, or get jostled out while you are working out.
Above, a shot of the earbuds in the same position as the photo above it. This is close to how the Smartomi ACE earbuds are intended to fit in the ear, and they fit OK for me like this, but didn’t feel quite secure enough. The above view shows how the earbuds actually fit best in my ears. Due to the contoured, teardrop shape of the earbuds, I don’t think this is how they were designed to fit. However, as mentioned above, I have huge ear canals, and this positioning worked quite well for me. I’d been wearing the Smartomi ACE earbuds for several weeks at the time of writing this review, both for heavy-duty workouts as well as working at my desk all day. I’m happy to report that these earbuds stayed in more consistently during my workouts—despite lots of sweat and motion—than any earbuds I’ve tried yet. And that’s saying something. They also remained comfortable while wearing them for extended periods while working at my desk. Also, these earbuds are so small and low-profile that when people stop by my desk to talk to me, they almost never notice that I am even wearing earbuds.
Conclusion
I really like these Smartomi ACE Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds. They are small and very lightweight, plus have a contoured, teardrop shape, all of which I think helped them more consistently stay in my ears during sweat-drenched workouts than any other earbuds I’ve tried to date. Operation of these earbuds is dead simple, with just a single, easy-to-push button on each earbud controlling multiple functions like music pause and phone call answer. They have a good battery life on their own, but their rechargeable, battery-powered storage case can provide the equivalent of up to four additional charges to boost the earbuds’ usage time. I really like these Smartomi ACE Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds. If you are looking for a pair of wireless earbuds, I’d recommend taking a look at these.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Smartomi. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.
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Do you remember the Wipebook reusable journal that featured whiteboard style pages that could be wiped clean and used over and over again? If you thought that sounded useful, consider the Sketchcase Whiteboard Skin that turns your MacBook into a real whiteboard that you can write on with markers – even permanent markers.
The Whiteboard Skin is a scratch and chemical resistant vinyl wrap that is compatible with dry erase, wet erase, and permanent markers, allowing you to write and draw on your laptop. Then you can wipe it clean and write something new.
The Sketchcase Whiteboard Skin has been designed for the 12″ MacBook up to the 15″ MacBook Pro and is priced from $17.99 – $19.99. Find out more at sketchcase.com.
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GoPro has forever changed the approach to action video with their line of HERO cameras. While the price range of $150-$400 for their latest models is a lot less than comparable professional video equipment, it can still be more than some would like to spend on this type of gadget. Other manufacturers have broken into this market to lure consumers with lower prices and various other features and functions. One such company is TaoTronics. This camera is made in China and has up to 4K30FPS recording. Keep reading to see what I think!
The TaoTronics 4K Action Camera is a GoPro “Clone” that specification-wise sits somewhere between the GoPro HERO Session and HERO4 Black. The comparative Features are summarized in the table below:
HERO4 Silver
TaoTronics
HERO4 Black
Video Modes*
4K
15
30
30
2.7K
30
30
60
1440
0
0
80
1080
60
60
120
720
120
90
240
480
240
0
240
photo resolution
12
16
12
photo shots/sec
10
10
30
connectivity
WiFi, Bluetooth
WiFi
WiFi, Bluetooth
Water depth
40
30
40
Size (mm)
30
30
30
59
59
59
41
41
41
* Video Mode is the maximum framerate supported in each resolution
The camera comes in a rather ordinary cardboard box.
The camera is about the same size and shape as the HERO4 and comes with a waterproof housing that has a similar hinged attachment point as the GoPro line of cameras. It is therefore compatible with a whole ecosystem of GoPro style attachments.
The camera also comes with a protective mount backing (that fits onto the hinge of the waterproof front and has slots for a nylon belt), a tubeframe mount, several adhesive and hinged mounts for surface mounting.
The system also comes with a snap on case with 1/4-20 mounts on the top and bottom and a spring clip mount for attaching to a belt or similar. Hinged mounts that are orthogonal allow the camera to be tilted in 2 dimensions and a male 1/4-20 mount (which allows any camera with a tripod mount to interface with GoPro fittings) and a female 1/4-20 mount are also included to permit the camera to be swiveled in each direction. Specific mounts, for mounting to the chest or helmet, pontoon and selfie sticks, and suction mounts are not included.
Inside the packaging provides some illustrations of how the included accessories can be used to mount the camera to a helmet or bicycle handlebar.
The buttons on the waterproof case are spring loaded pins that penetrate a gasket. There isn’t an impermeable diaphragm on the inside of the case so water penetration is a definite possibility.
The camera layout is similar to the HERO4 as well, with a power/mode button on the front, an OK/Start/Stop button on the top, an up/down button on the side and a screen on the back.
One noticeable difference is that this camera doesn’t have a LCD status window or LED indicators on the front of the camera. Actually, it is difficult to determine that the camera is recording from the front, so in a situation where you’re recording a selfie, you will have to look at the back or a smartphone with XDV running to make sure the recording has started or is in progress. Another difference is that this camera doesn’t have any feature similar to a highlight button, which is located on the side of the HERO4 and can be used to bookmark significant sections of the video. The screen is not touch sensitive like it is on the HERO4 but since the screen is most often in the housing, and since this doesn’t have the video editing features of the HERO4, a touchscreen isn’t really needed. The screen comes with a matte screen protection on top of a clear glossy screen protector on top of the plastic glossy screen cover that is part of the case. I prefer to leave the matte cover on to reduce glare from the sun. The camera also has a blue LED on the back that is lit while powered and blinking while recording and a red LED that is lit while externally powered and blinking while charging. The LEDs can be disabled if the camera is used as a dashcam.
The camera is powered by the battery below. It appears to be a typical HERO type battery.
The battery door is held in place by a springy piece of plastic and is completely removable. A plastic tab on the battery help to pull it out.
The standard operation is menu driven and circulates through video recording, camera recording, slow-mo recording, playback and settings screen. To change the mode press the mode button and to start or stop operation in the desired mode press the OK button.
The video recording screen shows set resolution, memory remaining, WiFi signal, and battery strength. The bottom of the screen shows if the sound is recorded, if the image is rotated, loop recorded, time lapse recorded, and the elapsed time of the recording.
The still shot screen shows set resolution, memory remaining, WiFi signal, and battery strength. The bottom of the screen shows if dramashot is enabled, what the delay timer or the auto timer is set to, and the current time.
The slow-mo mode is very similar to the video mode
The playback mode displays a preview of the recorded image and what order it is in the camera. The date and time the recording was made, while useful, is not displayed. Once the playback is started the up and down buttons on the side can be used to adjust the speed of the playback from 2x, 4x or 8x speed in either forward or reverse. A long press on OK will bring up a erase menu for the item on the screen.
There are a number of settings on the camera to tailor it to your shooting environment and preferences.
The video resolution setting allows the user to select any of the supported resolutions (even the high frame rate options). Recording sound allows you to select recording a video with or without sound. The TaoTronics has a time lapse mode and can be set up for 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 seconds intervals for video. Loop intervals are limited to 2, 3, and 5 minute segments. These segments seem short compared to the 5, 20, 60 and 120 minute intervals of the HERO4, however, if this is being used as a dashcam, 5 minutes is usually sufficient to capture the good (awesome car on the road), the bad (awesome car hits car in front of you) and the ugly (you hit car in front of you). The drivemode on the TaoTronics is similar to the QuikCapture mode on the HERO4. Not only will the TaoTroincs begin recording as soon as the camera is powered from the MicroUSB port, the camera will begin recording as soon as the power button is pressed. note that loop recording isn’t available if time lapse recording and vice versa.
The TaoTronics time lapse mode can only be set to 3, 10, 15, 20 and 30 second intervals for photo. The TaoTronics will capture a burst of photos by setting up the feature called DramaShot; the camera can be programmed to capture either 3, 5 or 10 photos each time the OK button is pressed. However, there is no way to record continuous burst photos and there is no way to capture a photo while recording a video. The camera has a 3, 5, 10 or 20 second timer. A timer cannot be set to start a time lapse or DramaShot.
The photos and videos share common exposure settings for white balance (auto, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, and fluorescent) and exposure (-3 to 3 by integer steps) There is no shutter setting for the camera. The camera also has a setting to limit interference by fluorescent light by indicating if the electrical frequency is 50 or 60 Hz.
When mounting the camera upside down there is a setting to rotate the image, but there is no accelerometer in the camera, meaning that the camera is unable to determine the correct orientation automatically.
The settings are available in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch, Hindi, and Turkish.
This review is with the firmware version 20170605V23. The camera is compatible with micro SD cards up to 64 gb. I put a 128 gb card in it and the camera ruined it; I needed to reformat the card afterwards. I made the performance tests with a 16gb Class 2 card, which seemed to work OK even though the data rate on some videos is 5.5 MB/s – about 2.5x the minimum guaranteed capability of the card.
I wanted to demonstrate the camera recording features on their own, but also demonstrate some reference of what is being recorded. using the 1/4-20 mounts from the TaoTronics package and a clamp mount from a GoPro-compatible package I rigged a Canon SX720 HS, LeEco Le Pro3 Smartphone, and the TaoTronics together.
I shot the same scene on all three devices so an unbiased comparison of the recordings can be made. Note that the Canon top resolution is full HD 1920×1080, not 4K. The recording of me walking is at 4K resolution on the LeEco and TaoTronics. The recording of the 9/11 memorial is in FHD on all three devices. I’m making the videos available on a mega.nz site so that you can see them without re-encoding but downloading from here is slow, so please be patient.
Note that I trimmed the length of the video with software that doesn’t re-encode the video so no modification of the recorded image occurs during the process. The wide field of view of the TaoTronics means that each item recorded has less resolution. I’m not sure if this is the reason why the shots from the Canon and LeEco look clearer. Also the lens flare and glare off of the TaoTronics lens is significantly more noticeable than on the other two shots. Unless you’re JJ Abrams this isn’t a good thing.
I made some recordings of the camera near a pool. The reflection of the sun off the water is a good test to see if the camera can effectively record very bright scenes. At the same time the shadow of the shrubs is recorded.
The camera does a good job at recording the pale blue of the water under the surface; the block artifacts of the compression process are visible, but small. Key-frames of the shadow of the waves are visible on the pool bottom but I’m not sure the other cameras would not have captured similar artifacts.
I literally threw the camera up into the air and had it land in the water. I didn’t notice any water intruding into the case after this test.
To test the action recording I took the camera out for brief run, just holding on to the case so that the picture shook about a lot. I wanted to see how well the camera can record a rapidly changing scene. The results show that the camera recorded the scene without generation of large blocks or skips in the recording. I did have the camera drop audio a couple of times in this situation. I’m not sure why this happened – it may be the sub-optimal MicroSD card I was using. Also, its pretty evident that there is no image stabilization.
I shot a scene at dusk and the shot looked very similar to what was actually there. I noticed there was a lot of noise in the dimly lit night sky, but some elevated noise at this low lighting is to be expected. I didn’t change the exposure setting but this would have improved the captured image even more.
The companion app for this camera is called XDV and is available from Shenzhen Sunchip Technology on the iPhone and XDV by wisdomplus of the Android play store. The app allows you to set the recording mode of the camera, to view a live stream of the recording, to review recorded images on the camera and to access other settings on the camera. The connection to a camera can only be made by using the WiFi of the camera generated access point, so you’re limited to the range of the camera. It would be great if the camera and smartphone could connect as clients to the same WiFi system, then the range could be arbitrarily large through bridging of multiple antennas.
In the end I think that the recorded video was slightly better on the other two cameras and footage from YouTube (even though this may post processed) looked a bit more polished that what I recorded. If you want to get that last bit of video quality out of your shots or more special features you will probably need to spend a bit more. However, the TaoTronics camera is a very close second. I see myself taking a lot more action shots with this in the future and I think its a good gadget for anyone to have in their arsenal.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by TaoTronics. Please visit their site for more information and Amazon to check prices / order.
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Above are the Smartomi ACE earbuds, along with the three pairs of included eartips in sizes large, medium and small. Since I have cavernous ear canals, I went straight for the size large. They were easy to install, just push them onto earbud’s posts with a bit of a twist.
Above is the Smartomi ACE’s battery case. It has a hinged, transparent plastic lid that allows the user to see inside, which is useful because the earbuds light up to indicate charging (more on this below). There are also two “pockets,” one for each of the earbuds, and each pocket has four tiny brass terminals that charge the earbuds. Either side of the pockets have a groove that makes it a bit easier to grab the earbuds and pull them out. A tiny blue LED between the earbud pockets indicates charging. Additionally, the case has a very Apple-esque design, with a matte aluminum around the bottom half that looks quite a bit like the iPhone’s finish.
One surprisingly cool and useful feature of this case is a set of hidden magnets that interact with magnets in the earbuds themselves. When the earbuds are placed near the charging “pockets,” the magnets attract together and SNAP! the earbuds lock right into position on the charging terminals, perfectly, every time. The case holds the earbuds so securely that you can actually turn the case upside down and the earbuds stay put. I really like this feature. I didn’t have to eyeball and manually position the earbuds into their charging pockets as I did with previous earbud charging cases, which sometimes meant that they were not perfectly seated on the charging terminals, thus preventing them from charging. No bueno. This case eliminates that. Also, the earbuds seldom need to be manually powered off. When you are finished with them, just place them in the case and they power off automatically. When you remove them from the case to use them, they power back on and re-pair automatically. Very cool.
Above, I have the included mini-USB plugged into the rear of the case. This setup charges both the battery in the case as well as the earbuds themselves simultaneously. The case gives the earbuds a significantly longer usage time. I was able to easily use the earbuds for well past a full week of 6 or 7 workouts lasting 1-1.5 hours due to the additional boost provided by the battery in the charging case.
Above, the tiny blue LED glows while the case is in charging mode.
Above, a closeup of the earbuds from the outside. Each earbud has a tiny microphone hole that can be used to make phone calls. A single push button on each earbud that controls various functions, like music pause and phone call answer. In addition, the chrome-colored rings that encircle these buttons are actually LEDs that glow during charging.
The Smartomi ACE earbuds are quite small, but more than that, they have an ergonomic, smooth shape, which I think helps them fit a bit better in my ears, and remain comfortable for a long time. How do they sounds? Excellent. As long as you have the proper size of silicone ear tips for your ear and you have them securely seated in your ear canal, they produce some sharp highs and solid base. For listening to podcasts, they were good, but listening to music or movies was where they really shined.
The above view shows how the earbuds actually fit best in my ears. Due to the contoured, teardrop shape of the earbuds, I don’t think this is how they were designed to fit. However, as mentioned above, I have huge ear canals, and this positioning worked quite well for me. I’d been wearing the Smartomi ACE earbuds for several weeks at the time of writing this review, both for heavy-duty workouts as well as working at my desk all day. I’m happy to report that these earbuds stayed in more consistently during my workouts—despite lots of sweat and motion—than any earbuds I’ve tried yet. And that’s saying something. They also remained comfortable while wearing them for extended periods while working at my desk. Also, these earbuds are so small and low-profile that when people stop by my desk to talk to me, they almost never notice that I am even wearing earbuds.
